


In My Veins

by eponine119



Category: Lost
Genre: Ensemble Cast, Gen, Season 2, The Hatch, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24825085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eponine119/pseuds/eponine119
Summary: Mysterious bites afflict the beach camp.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	In My Veins

In My Veins  
by eponine119  
May 12, 2020 - May 15, 2020

It starts with a headache. 

Sawyer's eyes are streaming with tears and he can barely hold them open in the sunlight. Jack crawls in to his tent with him, and things are better in the dim light. “You been wearing your glasses?” Jack asks, looking around at the things piled here and there. It's like the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin. Aladdin, Jack recalls, was also a thief. 

“Yeah, Doc,” Sawyer says. “This ain't that. This is something else.” 

“Then tell me what it is,” Jack says, sitting back on his heels, wondering why he's there if Sawyer already knows what's wrong with him. The tent smells vaguely perfumey and musky, and after a moment Jack realizes it's cologne. 

“Hell, if I knew that, Doc, you wouldn't be here.” Sawyer scratches absently at his arm. 

When he stops, Jack picks up Sawyer's wrist so he can inspect the itchy spot. It's red, lightly swollen, not hot. There are two small pinpricks at the center. “You got bit by something. Any idea what?” 

“Skeeters?” Sawyer says. 

Jack tries to reconcile a fully grown adult male who he knows for a fact has read a book in his life using the term “skeeters” for mosquitoes. As he does this, he rubs his fingers over the wound. It's on the inside of Sawyer's forearm, where the veins and arteries are. Probably not significant, he decides. He has Sawyer move his head forward, touching his chin to his chest, which he does without issue. 

“Take some aspirin,” Jack suggests, and backs out of the tent. 

“That's all you got?” Sawyer yells, after him, but he doesn't follow. He groans and Jack lets the tarp fall back into place. Jack's stumped, and he doesn't really like it with the bug bite, but it's probably just coincidence. 

…

It continues, as with most things, with Claire screaming in the night. 

Half the camp rolls over and tries to go back to sleep. Even Jack is reluctant, yawning as he gets to his feet and stumbles out of his tent. Charlie's already there with her, handing her the baby, reassuring her everything's all right. 

“There was someone here,” Claire says stridently, insistently. Her eyes are wide. 

“It's just a bloody nightmare,” Charlie says to her. 

“I know what I saw and there was someone here,” Claire repeats. She looks around, at the small crowd that's gathered, all familiar faces. 

Aaron starts to cry, and Sawyer emerges from his tent. His face is chiseled with anger. “Enough with the screaming!” he yells, raising both hands as though to swat them away. But then one halts on his forehead, rubbing where it must still hurt. 

Jack turns, and Kate's there at his elbow like she always is. “Take her to the hatch.” 

“How's that --” Kate starts to argue, as usual. 

“Kate. Take her to the hatch,” Jack repeats firmly. 

Kate gives him a look, but she does as he says. She goes over to Claire and starts to soothe both her and the baby. A few minutes later, they are both walking away into the jungle. Jack squints in the firelight at what looks like a round red welt on the back of Claire's thigh. 

Quiet once again prevails in the evening camp. If Sawyer could slam the tarp door of his tent, he would. Instead he just swishes it. 

…

“I don't like it,” Kate says to Jack in the early morning light, having returned alone from the hatch. 

“She's been through a trauma. Several of them,” Jack says. “Nightmares are normal, common even.” 

“This, and Sawyer's headache? Something else is going on here, Jack,” Kate says, her tone a warning. 

“We already know he's prone to headaches, just like we know Claire is prone to nightmares,” Jack says. He shakes his head. “I just don't see it.” 

“What am I prone to, Jack?” Kate asks, before flouncing off. 

That, Jack thinks, is what she's prone to. That and indecisiveness. He rubs his hand over his short, bristly hair, still thinking about the bug bites. 

…

Sun is in her garden. Jack avoids Jin's jealous, threatening look as he approaches her. “You know a lot about botany,” he says. “What do you know about bugs?” 

“Bugs?” Sun repeats, like he's said something ridiculous. “I know I don't like them.” 

“Have you seen any that seem unusual, around the garden? Or elsewhere?” he asks. 

“Jack, what's going on?” Sun replies. 

Jack wishes the people on this island were a little less smart, less likely to pick up on his leading questions. But they don't trust the island – they've all seen too much . “Nothing,” he says. 

His next stop is the hatch, where he rifles through the pantry looking for Dharma brand insect repellent. There isn't any. “Figures,” he says. 

“When I was a boy, my foster sister was bitten by a poisonous spider,” John Locke says, out of nowhere. Jack turns his head slowly to look at him. Locke smiles, and it's definitely weird. “They thought she would die.” 

Jack knows he shouldn't encourage this, but he asks, “Then what happened?” 

“She got better. But not before she lost a big chunk of flesh out of her arm. After that, she always had good luck. That's what saved her from the dog.” 

“What dog?” 

“A rabid dog got loose on our street, not too long after that. Maybe a year. All a rabid dog wants to do is bite, Jack,” Locke says. 

Jack wishes the computer would start beeping so one of them would have a reason to exit this conversation. “I'll keep that in mind,” he says. 

“Claire will be fine,” Locke promises. 

“I don't know, John,” Jack says. “There's a lot of things on this island that might like to bite.” 

He swings by Sawyer's tent when he gets back to the beach. “How's your arm?” he asks, wanting another look at that bug bite. 

“Don't you mean how's my head?” Sawyer asks. “Long as I stay out of the sun, it's fine.” 

“Stay out of the sun, then,” Jack suggests. He pauses at the entryway. “You got any bug spray? Deep Woods OFF, anything like that?” 

“No, but got me some Skin So Soft lotion.” 

“I'm not really worried about dishpan hands,” Jack says. 

“Maybe you should be,” Sawyer shoots back. “It repels bugs.” 

“Then why did one bite you?” 

“Didn't say I was usin' it,” Sawyer shoots back. “Tell you what. You find me a good pair of shades and it's yours.” 

“Deal,” Jack agrees, and leaves the tent. 

…

No one on the beach has any sunglasses. Jack checks, twice. So it's weird when the next day he spots Hurley wearing a pair. 

“Where did those come from?” Jack asks. 

“Found 'em,” Hurley says. “I was walking back from the hatch and there they were right in the middle of the path. Like they fell from the sky or something, dude.” 

“Can I have them?” Jack asks. 

“Sure,” Hurley says, and hands them over. 

“Thanks,” Jack says. He goes to Sawyer's tent. 

“Boy howdy that was quick,” Sawyer says. “Found yourself a pair. Guess this is all yours then.” He puts the bottle of hand lotion into Jack's palm. 

“I know they're yours,” Jack says. 

“Mine now,” Sawyer agrees. “Possession's nine-tenths and all that.” 

“No. They were yours,” Jack repeats. There's only one person who he didn't ask if they had a pair of sunglasses, and that's the person who requested them. What he doesn't understand is why. Sawyer just glares at him and Jack leaves his tent. 

He goes to Kate, who's by the water trough. He hands her the tube. “You should start using this,” he says. 

“Jack,” she says. 

“It's some kind of bug repellent,” he says. 

“You think there's a bug problem?” Kate asks. Jack suddenly remembers he has to be somewhere – anywhere else – but Kate follows him with questions. “What kind of a bug problem?” 

“Maybe I was trying to be nice,” he says. 

“I want to know what you know,” Kate insists. 

“I don't know anything. It's just a series of theories,” Jack says. “Just use it, okay?” 

“You should use it too then,” Kate says. 

“I'll take my chances.” Jack shakes his head. 

…

“Claire's getting better in the hatch,” Jack tells Sawyer a few days later. 

“We were fine till y'all opened that thing,” Sawyer protests. It's nighttime, so they're outside, but he's wearing shades because the firelight is too bright. 

“Go stay in the hatch, Sawyer.” 

“Make me, Doc,” Sawyer challenges. 

Jack just rolls his eyes and wonders how Sawyer's going to fight him wearing shades in the dark. But he knows by now that Sawyer is all bark and no bite. Speaking of which... “Let me see your arm,” he says. 

Sawyer holds it out. “I don't like this,” Jack says. The bite looks like it's been reopened. “You have to stop scratching.” 

“Then it's gotta stop itching,” Sawyer suggests. 

Jack looks closer, and he's not sure the scratching is really what's reopened the wounds. He also wonders if it's a bite at all. The two puncture marks are too far apart to be from an insect. They're more the distance of human incisors, but human teeth don't leave a mark like this. For a second he looks at Sawyer's teeth to try to determine if he's been biting himself, but he's not sure why Sawyer would. Not even he needs this kind of attention. His incisors are barely pointed, anyway. 

“Maybe it's some kind of allergy,” Jack suggests. “I can give you some diphenhydramine --” 

“I ain't allergic to nothin',” Sawyer says. 

“It can't hurt to try it,” Jack tells him. “It'll help you sleep, if nothing else.” 

…

Claire makes a full recovery and returns to life on the beach. Kate shares the bug repellent lotion with her and Aaron, though Jack still isn't sure bugs are responsible. He finds himself looking at peoples' teeth when he talks to them, but no one has noticeably large or pointed incisors. Sawyer would probably notice someone biting him, anyway. 

Kate stops Jack on the beach and steers him down toward the water, away from the other people. “Something weird happened today,” she says, by way of introduction, and she looks kind of uncomfortable with what she has to tell him. Like she doesn't want to tell him but thinks she should. 

“Like what?” he asks, because weird things happen on this island every day. 

“Sawyer tried to bite me.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” Jack asks, and now he's uncomfortable, thinking about Sawyer and Kate and how much he would rather have it be Jack and Kate, and of course Sawyer's the kind of guy to bite a girl without her express permission –

“Jack,” Kate says, and gives him one of those disdainful looks she typically reserves for Sawyer. “It wasn't like that. He wasn't, we weren't, I was sleeping – ALONE -- and I woke up with him in my tent, trying to sink his teeth into my arm. It was like he was in a trance.” 

“Did he leave a mark?” Jack asks, taking Kate's arm. 

“No,” she says, letting him look. “I woke up before he managed it, and walloped him. He didn't even give me a one-liner, he just kind of slunk away.” 

“I'll talk to him,” Jack says. 

“Jack --” 

“I'll talk to him,” he repeats, more clearly, and starts up the beach. Kate follows at his heels. 

Hurley appears in his path. “Uh, we gotta talk, dude,” he says. 

“Can it wait?” 

“No, it kind of can't. Because I'm pretty sure I know what's wrong with Sawyer and Claire,” Hurley says. He has Jack's attention. “There's a vampire.” 

“Vampires don't exist, Hurley,” Jack says and starts walking again. 

“I think he's right,” Kate says, and Jack stops. “Think about it. The sensitivity to light? He's been avoiding the hatch. Maybe it's because he has to be invited in first. And then --” She glances down at her arm. “You didn't see him, Jack, and I did.” 

“I wonder if there's any garlic in the hatch,” Hurley says, and heads off in that direction. 

“Vampires,” Jack says doubtfully.

“Something bit him,” Kate says. 

Jack stops outside Sawyer's tent and knocks on the aluminum piece that came from the plane. There's no sound from inside, but he goes in anyway. Sawyer's laying down with his arm resting over his eyes. It's extremely dark in the tent already, and Jack wonders with concern whether that little bit of light is too much for him to bear. 

“You think I'm damn Dracula,” Sawyer says, and lowers his arm to glare. His eyes are red-ringed, and he's starting to look pale from being indoors. “Yeah, I could hear you.” 

“I think something bit you and it's getting worse,” Jack says. “Claire got better in the hatch. You could just --” 

“No, I couldn't,” Sawyer snaps. 

“Is this about your stuff?” Jack asks. “No one's going to take your stuff, Sawyer.” He just gets an irritated look in response. “What happened last night?” 

“Sleepwalkin'? How the hell should I know?” 

“You have no memory of trying to bite Kate? Going to her tent?” 

“If I was gonna take a nibble out of Freckles, don't you think I'd remember it?” Sawyer asks. “How d'you know she ain't lying to serve her own purposes?” 

“What purpose would it serve for her to convince me you're a – that you tried to bite her?” 

“I ain't in her head, Doc,” Sawyer says. 

“You need to move to the hatch, Sawyer,” Jack says, but he's on his way out because he knows Sawyer won't agree. Sawyer lets him have the last word, which is worrisome. 

Kate's trying to look busy right outside Sawyer's tent where it's obvious she was listening. Jack had never realized how much eavesdropping went on at the beach camp. “We can drug him,” she says. 

“I can hear you,” Sawyer yells from inside. 

“So much for the element of surprise,” Jack says dryly. They walk away from Sawyer's tent, but Jack says, “We can't drug him without his permission.” 

“If we could get his permission, we wouldn't need to drug him,” Kate points out. 

“It's unethical.” Jack doesn't point out that he's been drugged by Kate and didn't enjoy it. 

“It's unethical to not do anything,” she points out. “What if he tries to bite someone else next?” 

“You think he bit Claire?” Jack asks. 

“I don't know. Something bit him, though. And maybe Claire, too. That means none of us are safe.” 

“We can't all move into the hatch,” Jack says. “There's no cure for being a vampire.” Mostly due to there not being such a thing as being a vampire, but he's willing to overlook that for now. 

“Claire got better when there was no more access. Whatever's biting Sawyer keeps coming back for more. Maybe when that stops, the rest stops.” 

“I hope so. Otherwise we're going to have to find some silver bullets.” 

“That's werewolves,” Kate says. “For vampires, you use wooden stakes.” 

“I'll think of something,” Jack promises, and Kate nods. 

…

“If you don't move to the hatch, we're going to have to post guards for your own protection,” Jack says. He's hoping Sawyer will find it convincing, the idea of having people watching him constantly. 

“No one touches my stuff,” he says. 

I knew it, Jack thinks. “Promise.” 

“Fine then,” Sawyer says. He sighs and gets to his feet. He's a bit wobbly and he looks thin, in addition to being pale. It's altogether un-Sawyerlike. He grabs his glasses and puts his feet into his boots. “Ready when you are, Doc.” 

They hike to the hatch, with Kate bringing up the rear. She's about ten feet behind them, uninvited. They both know she's there but don't acknowledge her. 

Sawyer pauses outside the hatch door. Jack turns back from inside. “No second thoughts. Let's go,” he says. 

“You gotta invite him in, Dude,” Hurley says. He's on button pressing duty at the moment. 

“He doesn't need to be invited. Maybe he just needs to catch his breath,” Jack says. Sawyer does seem to be breathing kind of hard. “Come on.” Sawyer's eyes are wide and he just shakes his head. 

“Come in,” Hurley says. “I invite you. Even if you are a vampire now.” 

Sawyer crosses the threshold and looks relieved. 

“Aaah!” Hurley cries, surprising them all, and holds out a cross necklace, brandishing it at Sawyer. Sawyer just looks at him like he's a fool. 

“Hurley,” Jack says. “Make us some soup.” 

“I ain't sick,” Sawyer says. 

“I'm not convinced,” Jack says. He walks Sawyer into the bunk room and has him sit down on the bed. He wraps his arm wound with gauze, something he probably should have done awhile ago. He gets Sawyer a book and a glass of water. 

“Gonna tuck me in too, Doc?” 

Hurley appears with the soup. 

“No. I'm not going to feed you, either. But you're going to eat.” 

Sawyer takes the spoon and takes a bite. He swallows it a bit reluctantly, then puts the spoon back in the bowl. 

“What's wrong?” Jack asks. 

Sawyer shakes his head. “Just ain't hungry.” 

“You're skin and bone,” Jack says. 

“It don't taste right. Don't taste like anything. Just leave me be.” 

“Maybe he needs raw meat, dude.” 

“Do we have any?” 

“There's boar.” Hurley goes and gets some. It's cold from where they keep it in the refrigerator, and disgusting. All three of them look at the plate for a long time. Sawyer is more interested than the other two. For a long moment, Jack thinks he's going to eat it. But he turns away. 

“Maybe he's like a vampire for beer,” Hurley says. 

“That doesn't even make sense.” 

“Can you shut off the light?” Sawyer asks. “My eyes...” They're so pale green he looks inhuman. Jack thinks about him putting his glasses in his pocket and calling it packing. Clearly he was hoping to be able to read down here, where there's plenty of books. But he can't read in the dark. 

Hurley shuts off the light. 

“Keep an eye on him,” Jack says. 

“I can still hear you,” Sawyer grinds out the words, then flops over in the bed. 

“You sure he's not gonna bite me? Maybe you should stay,” Hurley says. 

“We can tie him to the bed,” Jack offers. 

“Kinky,” says Sawyer, who can still hear them. 

“Lock him in the armory. It'll be darker in there,” Jack says. Sawyer pretends to be asleep. “Come on, Sawyer,” he says, and the other man submits, getting up and walking to the small storeroom. He looks a little afraid when they close the door on him. “He'll be fine,” Jack says to Hurley. “I'll be back in a few hours.” 

Kate's outside, pretending she's picking fruit. “How is he?” she asks, from halfway up a tree. Maybe she's not pretending; she really is picking fruit. 

“He'll be fine,” Jack says, but for some reason he doesn't feel that sure. He wishes he knew what the hell was going on. 

…

Jack returns, as promised, a few hours later. He hasn't come up with any solutions. “How is he?” he asks Hurley, who practically meets him at the door. 

“I didn't let him out,” Hurley says, and he looks kind of guilty. 

“Hurley?” Jack asks, wanting to know whatever it is he's not being told. 

“He said he wanted out,” Hurley says. “He said it a lot. But I didn't. And then I think he was, kind of, like, crying in there? But don't say anything – he'd be embarrassed.” 

Wouldn't want anyone to be embarrassed about being a vampire and trying to bite people, Jack thinks, then remembers he doesn't believe in vampires. He goes to the armory door and knocks. “Sawyer?” he calls. There's no answer. He spins the combination and opens the door, bracing himself for an attack. 

Sawyer's asleep. For a second, he looks dead. But then he sighs and Jack feels relief wash over him. He backs out of the armory, leaving the door open. 

“How is he?” Kate springs up from the dining banquette. He hadn't noticed her there. 

“He's asleep,” Jack reports. She starts for it, and he touches her arm to stop her. “Let him sleep.” 

Kate nods, then goes into the kitchen. She opens a can of soup and starts to heat it on the stove. Jack knows it's for Sawyer, for when she wakes him up, but he lets her do it. He sits down at the dining table. 

“What're we going to do?” Hurley asks, pulling up a chair. 

Jack shakes his head. “Wait,” he says. “Claire got better.” Claire didn't get to the point where she was biting people, though. He doesn't know if there's a point where it becomes irreversible. 

Kate puts two bowls of chicken and stars on the table. “I already ate,” Hurley says, and she slides the bowl over so it's in front of herself. The other is apparently for Jack, and he takes a bite. It's good. He hadn't realized he was hungry. 

“What smells good?” Sawyer appears, cringing in the light. He's still pale and drawn. 

“Soup,” Kate says. “Come have some.” She slides over, and he sits down next to her. Jack stares at the thick bones of his wrists, with no meat on them. 

Kate tries to feed him, and Sawyer grabs the spoon out of her hand. “I can do it, Freckles.” But his hand shakes. He swallows the soup, and Jack considers it a good sign. 

“Who do you think the vampire is?” Hurley asks. “I mean, who bit Sawyer?” 

“Could've been an insect. An animal,” Jack offers. 

“A bat,” says Sawyer. 

“I bet it was the Others,” Hurley says. 

“I knew it,” Sawyer says. “Always creepin' 'round our camp. The island. That's why they took the kid.” 

Kate looks at Jack, but he doesn't say anything. It makes as much sense as anything else. “The hatch door said Quarantine on it,” she points out. “Maybe this is the infection.” 

“Knew you shouldn't have blew this place open,” Sawyer grumbles. 

“I didn't know you were afraid of the dark, dude,” Hurley says. 

Sawyer glares at him, and his face is monstrous. Kate giggles, and covers her mouth with her hand. 

Jack's seen enough. “I think you're feeling better,” he says. “Stay here. Continue to get rest, and fluids. Finish your soup. If anything changes, get word back to the camp.” There'll be a steady stream of button-pressers going back and forth, and he imagines Kate will stay behind, because she won't miss a minute of this. Even though he'd prefer to keep her at the camp, where she'll likely stay bite-free.

“We need to figure out who the real vampire is, and how to stop them,” Hurley says. “So we can keep everyone safe.” 

“They probably just found Sawyer irresistible,” Jack says. “The rest of us will be fine.” 

It's not the first time he's been wrong. 

…

Jack awakens in the morning feeling groggy. He slept hard, and he can't quite shake it off. It's like somebody drugged him. He looks around, but finds no evidence of this or intruders, so he goes out of his tent to look for Kate. 

She's sitting on the beach, staring at the ocean. This isn't unusual for her, but she seems kind of listless. She looks up at him and he starts absently scratching an itch on his arm. “Jack!” she cries, looking at his arm. He looks down at it and sees the red circle where he's been scratching, and the two marks inside the circle. 

“Damn it, that's going to mess up my tattoo,” he says. 

“They got you!” she says, and she sounds a little excited about it. “Did you see them? Who was it?” 

“I was out cold,” he says. Then he turns over her wrists, exposing that she has a similar mark. Hers just isn't red, because she hasn't been scratching. 

That's when Claire shrieks. They all recognize the sound by now. Jack sighs, and looks up the beach. “They got Charlie!” she yells, and they head up the beach. 

“Three in one night?” Kate asks. 

“Somebody was hungry,” Jack says, even though he doesn't believe in vampires. 

Then he hears angry Korean coming from somewhere behind him, and he knows the count is up to four. 

“We have to do something,” Kate says urgently. 

“I'm going to check each person for bites, and I'm going to gather bite samples.” 

“Bite samples?” Kate asks, wrinkling her nose. 

“Those tooth marks have to match someone. We just have to figure out who.” 

“What are we going to do then?” she asks. Jack shakes his head. He doesn't know. But they'll figure it out. 

He goes to Sayid, who also has toothmarks on his arm. This is getting ridiculous. He explains the problem. They need something soft to capture dental impressions. He's kind of expecting Sayid to MacGuyver up a solution with sand, a mango, and a paperclip. But Sayid just offers up leaves. He bites down on one and demonstrates it captures the impression perfectly. Jack pulls a pen from his pocket and labels it. Then he hands Sayid another pen, recruiting him to help. 

They spend most of the day at it. “You have the manifest?” Jack asks when he's taken a sample from John Locke. “I want to cross-reference it.” 

Locke looks like he doesn't want to hand it over. Jack knew he should have made his own copy when he had the chance. “I want it back,” he says finally, giving the pages to Jack. 

“Why?” Jack asks, but he gets only a mysterious smile in return. 

As night begins to fall, Jack gathers up his leaf collection and heads for the hatch, along with the others who've been bitten. He wonders if he's abandoning the rest of the camp to be bitten that night, and what he'll do if that's the case. There isn't room in the hatch for all of them. 

He checks on Sawyer, who's inexplicably starting to look tan again. He takes bite impressions from Sawyer and Hurley. Then he sits down at the dining table with Kate, who puts the leaves in alphabetical order and checks off the names against the manifest. “We're only missing two,” she says. “Nikki and Paulo.” 

“Who the hell are Nikki and Paulo?” Jack asks, and Kate shrugs. 

He stays up late, doing the analysis. He measured and sketched the bitemarks on his own arm to compare against the impressions. None of them are a match. He's not sure how this could be, but then he thinks about it. They're missing samples from two people, and two people only. Of course those responsible wouldn't participate. He wishes he'd realized this before he spent the whole night doing an analysis. 

“Hurley,” Jack says. “Which tent is Nikki and Paulo's?” He knows the affable, gregarious friend to all will know. And he does. 

“It's behind the kitchen, on the right.” 

“I'm comin' with you,” Sawyer declares. 

“Why?” Jack asks. 

“Gonna bite 'em back.” Sawyer's dimples show with satisfaction at the idea. 

“That... doesn't even make sense, Sawyer,” Jack says. 

“Yeah, well, I don't care. I'm comin' with ya anyway.” 

He seems strong enough, so Jack lets him. Kate brings up the rear from ten feet back. They pretend they don't know she's there, but really, the girl walks like an elephant. She can sneak up on nobody. 

They approach Nikki and Paulo's tent. Jack realizes that he doesn't have a plan, and he doesn't like it. This means even Sawyer had a better plan than he did, and Sawyer's plan was ridiculous. They throw back the tarp and what they see is shocking. 

Nikki and Paulo are sucking on each others' arms. 

“Eeewww,” says Kate, as she turns away. 

“Wait, I do know you,” Jack says. They look vaguely familiar. For some reason, he associates Paulo with the sound of a toilet flushing. He shrugs. 

“Guess we caught you now, Nosferatu,” Sawyer says. 

“Who?” Nikki raises a bloodied mouth from her boyfriend's arm to ask. 

“Just tell us why you've been biting everybody,” Jack orders. 

“We're vampires,” Paulo says. 

“Duh?” Nikki adds, and rolls her eyes like Jack's the stupid one. 

“Vampires don't exist,” Jack points out. 

“Just tell us how to kill you,” Sawyer says, and everyone looks at him. 

“We can't just kill them, Sawyer,” Kate says. “They're people.” 

“Technically, we're vampires,” Nikki points out. 

“Fine. We can't just kill vampire-Americans,” Hurley says. 

“I'm from Brazil,” Paulo says. 

“Not makin' a real good case there, Count,” Sawyer says. 

“Whatever, you can't just go around killing people,” Kate says. 

“They bit us!” Jack cries. 

“Right, you can't just go around biting people!” Kate turns on Nikki and Paulo. “So what are we going to do, Jack?” 

“We're going to reach an agreement,” Jack says. “No biting people. And no killing vampires. We've all been through enough. We can't afford to lose anyone else. We're just going to have to find a way to live --” 

“Why didn't you start biting people before?” Kate interrupts his speech to ask. 

“At first, we captured birds and other small animals,” Paulo says. 

“But after awhile, we got lazy,” Nikki adds. “Why go running around the jungle when there's all these people lying around?” 

“We don't need that much,” Paulo says. “Now, we are full. We should be good for another thirty or forty days at least.” 

“Anything can happen in a month,” Kate says. They could get rescued. Or they could die. 

“We can set up a safe and sane collection from willing volunteers,” Jack says. “Which is what we should have done in the first place. Why didn't you just come to me?” 

Nikki and Paulo look at each other, a little surprised, like such a thing obviously never crossed their minds. 

But Sawyer knows why.

“Because they suck.” 

(end)


End file.
